Just this evening I took receipt of a pair of Magicshine bike lights. These things have been around for awhile and there’s lots of discussion about them around the web. They’ve got their fans, and certainly their detractors.
I got them because I am at the point in my physical recovery that I can probably get back on the bike soon. When I can do that, I probably won’t be ready for the mountain bike yet. I still need a lot of strength and stamina. But I WILL be able to start commuting by bike again. It will help me get back into shape for mountain biking. Part of commuting is getting your bike outfitted with adequate safety gear.
I have a couple of rear blinkie lights that have been more than sufficient for me over the years. I have no complaints with them. Though maybe eventually I’ll get one of the insane DiNotte tail lights so I have an obnoxious level of visibility so that nobody in their right mind could say they didn’t see me on the road after dark. For Christmas, my wife gave me a Bike Glow rope light to wrap around my frame for improved side visibility. The place where I was really lacking was with my headlight.
I have a couple that I’ve been using for years. My first was a simple DIY job that used a 7.4v NiCad battery pack, a housing made from PVC pipe fittings, and had the bulb from a 6D-cell MagLite. It was a rebuild of the original light, which had an Energizer spelunker’s headlamp housing. That original housing/reflector setup shattered in a crash years ago and the PVC getup was an imperfect and insufficient solution. Later on, I began to use a Black Diamond SpaceShot headlamp which was scary bright, but only provided optimal light on the most focused spot setting, didn’t provide much peripheral lighting, and was a beast to rig onto a helmet. It also used a NiMH battery pack.
I heard about these Magicshine lights on the MTBR lights forum. They claim 900 lumens of output. I quickly learned that the actual output was more like 500-600 lumens. Usually that kind of overstating would be a deal breaker. But, with the lights going for about $85 from a couple sources, that problem is easy to forgive. Most bike lights are hundreds of dollars. I’ve even seen a light or two in the $1,000 range. That stuff is just out of my price range. I can afford a Magicshine, however. The MS light looks an awful lot like a Lupine model, and coming from China, it’s no wonder. But, it’s barely different enough to apparently qualify for its own patent. At any rate, with as cheap as they are, I bought two. That way, I have a spare for my wife if she wants to ride at night, or one for a friend. Geomangear.com, the place I bought mine, even sent me a free y-cable so I can mount both of them on my handlebar using one battery. That’s just sick.
Here’s the box it came in. Snazzy for $85. The lid is magnetic, even.
The contents. Well organized and protected by the foam.
Light parts: Charger, light head, extension cord, battery, and rubber bands to attach to the bike.
The light head. All aluminum. The bezel unscrews to get inside if you need. With the LED light, I’d be surprised if you needed to get in there, but I suppose you could tinker with it easily enough if you wanted.
A non-scientific beam shot. This is a lit room with 3x 75watt grow lights on my vegetables just a few feet away. This light is bright enough to make the camera show everything else dark, illustrating how much of a difference there is between the lights.
Shot of the light head mounted on the handlebar. Good size. The rubber band doesn’t grip too tight. I think I will add some rubber spacers under it so it grips more tightly.
All my lights on…with the light on in the room. You can see the bike glow wrapped around my frame. That ought to help with visibility. I put the batteries into a seat bag. I think that’s probably the best spot for them. I plan to run the Magicshine on my helmet, however, in which case the battery will go in my pack.
All my lights on…with the room light off. I only have one rear blinky attached at the moment. The other attaches to me while I’m riding.
All lights except the Magicshine. You can really see how visible that bike glow is. I obviously don’t have a good angle on my blinkie, so it’s not obvious. It’s a Cateye. I have a nicer Blackburn that’s a bit brighter, also. Two points of flashing red lights on my body is better than one. I might get some more since they’re cheap.
This is my commuting light set-up for now. I’ve got some reflective stickers I’ll be adding, too, for more pop. I do already have a couple reflective stickers on my chainstays already.
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